Custom Book Cover

How does our service work?

Start Here: Please fill out the following form with information on your book cover HERE for a custom quote.

In-House Photography

We provide exclusivity of the images and compositions of our book cover design by doing photography in-house when possible. We use Rights Managed Image Licensing for our beautiful images. This helps to prevent repeated use of these images in multiple applications, such as on different book covers, avoiding brand dilution and most importantly making the image YOURS.

Purchasing your cover through SazzyReaders.com means you will have an original and exclusive photo in many cases with real life models for a cover that will draw the readers in. Once a photo is sold for a cover, the same photo will not be sold to any other authors! By purchasing through SazzyReader.com, you are also supporting another small business owner/artist. We can bring your vision to life with a custom shoot, or help you find an existing image from our library to fit your needs. At SazzyReader.com we understand that many of you are self-published authors without a big budget behind you, so we are very happy to work out a payment plan that works for both of us!

Our prices for existing images vary, ranging from $200 to 500 depending on the image. This gets you exclusive rights to use off the photo for book covers and other promotional materials but doesn't include commercial rights to sell posters or calendars or anything of that nature. We can save your image with a deposit and work out a payment plan if needed!

The license is valid for up to 150,000 sales after which renewal is required.

For Custom shoots the fee is $500 which includes the session fees, an exclusive gallery, and either a front cover and nine teasers, or a front and back cover with four teasers, with exclusive rights for a book cover and promotional material (but of course does not include the commercial rights to sell products) and a model fee if required. Please be aware that model fees for the custom shoots may vary depending on the model. Custom shoots are great if you have a specific vision in your mind for your cover that we can help bring to life with your creative input. It also gives you those extra images for teasers and other promotional items leading up to your cover reveal. This shoot with the clothes and ideas brought by the authors will be exclusive although I may shoot the same models in different locations and clothing for stock images or other authors.

Images can also be purchased for non-exclusive promos, to be used as teasers on social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. These images are $50 each, non-exclusive, will have the watermark on them and can only be used as teasers and not as covers.

Style: Send us a link to other covers with a similar style or look that you are looking for to give me a better idea of what you have in mind.
General: Designs are optimised to be attractive when viewed in a small size, as on most e-Book websites post images that will appear only about 1½ x 2 inches in size when viewed on a computer screen (or smaller on androids).
Payment: by Paypal – I will send an invoice using PayPal with the option to make a partial payment of 50% required for a custom project.
Exclusivity: I guarantee you the exclusive rights to any cover. The design will not be resold to anyone else. However, raw images for photo manipulation are in some cases from stock photo sites and as such, I cannot guarantee exclusive rights to a particular image, though it will appear very different from the original as it is usually combined with several other image elements to create a composition that reflects your vision.
Stock Images: I purchase image licenses legally and use large, high-resolution, high-quality images. All basic stock images are included, however, there are certain expensive stock sites, and to purchase from them a high end/highly desired image, I will ask for approval from the author in advance to be included it in the design fee. Most of the sites require that one buys a bulk package of credits and they do not sell single images alone. Naturally, I am not able to maintain credits on all the sites, but I rotate among three different top image sites.

Different sites have restrictions on their stock image licenses – one may usually produce 500,000 of a design whereafter one has to purchase an extended license, depending on the site. Please note all my covers come with a standard image license. Also, note that if you do sell more than 500 000 copies of a book you should be able to afford and extended image license for $100.

Disclaimer: A standard stock image license allows for e-book and paperback book covers and related web and all printed advertising materials like banners and brochures and cards. It does NOT allow for products like t-shirts and coffee mugs, where the image alone becomes the main attraction of the item. For that, you will have to obtain an extended license to the images used on your cover. If you fail to do so it is at your own risk and I will not be held responsible.

Turnaround time: Because we only take a limited number of custom orders, the turn around time is pretty quickly once the basic details are worked out. Custom covers are completed within five to ten days, 2 weeks at most – especially if there is a photo shoot to do, as well as the feedback from the author and how many alterations we end up making.
Samples sent: For a custom design we usually offer 2 completely different covers, sometimes with different versions of each, depending on the project.

I do NOT provide a PSD file with open layers for many reasons. The most important being that it would be against stock image terms (it would be equal to selling an image or graphic instead of a composition and completed design). I do send PSD files UPON SPECIAL REQUEST but with only text layers open so that you can change the title yourself. However, in many cases, I use designer fonts and you may have to purchase the font in order to be able to change the title. PSD files tend to be huge files so it will not send unless specifically asked.

Add a full paperback cover to your order (front, back, and spine put together)

Full Paperback Cover

Please note I USUALLY ONLY DESIGN PAPERBACK COVERS FOR AMAZON’S AFFILIATE PAPERBACK SITE – CREATESPACE.COM. Because other companies have different layout specifications sizes, the specific information has to be provided in advance to be designed at the same time as the CreateSpace version.

Front/Ebook Cover Design

Please remember an e-Book cover is not supposed to be an illustration of the book’s content – it is a sales prop to convince readers to click on your book, and perhaps to be admired by the reader later on. It is more important to have a stunning image that is visible in a small size than to have lots of tiny accurate details…

1. First, you tell me some basic details about your book by email (see below)

2. Then we'll chat about what you're looking for. We’ll talk about your book, like its story and the general theme of your book cover and I provide a quote/invoice.

3. Using the quote/invoice you submit a 50% deposit (securely by Paypal) then I get started on your book cover design.

4. I create your first draft in approximately 5 to 10 working days, depending on my workload (don’t worry I’ll let you know if I need more time). I'll email you with a private link where you can view a watermarked draft design.

5. You give me feedback on the design, and I'll make changes or create a new design until you’re 100% happy.

Info required:

• 1. Genre.

• 2. Book title and all text that needs to go on the cover – author name and any other words/sub-title/series name.

• 5. A description of the elements and atmosphere you would like to see on the book cover – e.g. a beautiful brunette with a dystopian city background and a crowd. If you have no idea I can come up with some suggestions, provided I have a good summary of the story.

• 6. Links to any book covers with a style that you like if you have a specific style in mind (optional)…

• 8. Links to stock images you have in mind if any (optional).

• 9. Is the book a part of a series? A little more info about the series, please.